CHAPTER XCIII 

 WILLIAM BAIRD, 1887-96 



BAIRD WITH DAINTREE. ON ETHERIDGE GOLDFIELD. TIN DISCOVERIES AT MOUNT 

 ROMEO, LION'S DEN, MOUNT AMOS, MOUNT BROWNING, MOUNT HARTLEY, ETC. 

 ALLUVIAL GOLD AT BAIRDSVILLE, BATAVIA RIVER. TRACK TO HAYS CREEK. 

 KILLED BY BLACKS WHILE WORKING AT BAIRDSVILLE. 



WILLIAM BAIRD had been employed in the field by 

 RICHARD DAINTREE, my predecessor as Government 

 Geologist. He was one of the first to work on the 

 ETHERIDGE GOLDFIELD. From the Etheridge, he and 

 some others set out on a prospecting expedition before Hann's 

 party discovered gold on the Palmer. They turned back at the 

 Mitchell, however, convinced that only country of pastoral value 

 lay to the north. 



MOUNT ROMEO TIN MINES 



His earliest recorded success in prospecting was his discovery 

 of stream tin at MOUNT ROMEO (so called after his black boy), 

 on the head of the Annan River, 26 miles south of Cooktown, in 

 January, 1887.* (SEE MAP G.) The discovery followed that 

 made by ROBERT BAIRD in the scrub at the head of the ANNAN 

 and BLOMFIELD RIVERS, and was shortly afterwards. followed by 

 the opening of LODES OF TIN ORE at Lion's Den, Mount Amos, 

 Mount Browning, Mount Hartley, etc. When I visited Mount 

 Romeo in February, 1887, -there were about 100 men doing well on 

 stream tin. The district is still a producer of stream and lode 

 tin, although the centre of the former has shifted to the Blomfield 

 (China Camp). There are extensive hydraulic workings at 

 CHINA CAMP and preparations on a large scale are being made 

 for DREDGING the lower reaches of the ANNAN. 3 



1 See Dick's Mineral Resources of the Cook District, p. 29, and Jack's Geological 

 Observations in the North of Queensland. Brisbane, by Authority, 1887; also Jack's 

 Second Report on Tin Mines near Cooktown. Brisbane, by Authority, 1891. 



2 See " The Annan River Tinfield," by Walter E. Cameron. Brisbane, by Authority, 

 1907 (Geol. Survey Pub., No. 210) ; " Geological Sketch Map of Part of the Annan River 

 Tinfield," by Lionel C. Ball. Brisbane, by Authority, 1910 (Geol. Survey Pub., No. 222) ; 

 " Geology and Mineral Resources of the Cooktown District Tinfields," by E. Cecil Saint- 

 Smith. Brisbane, by Authority, 1916 (Geol. Survey Pub., No. 250). 



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